The owners of a Lenawee County steel tube mill bought a 190,000-square-foot bulding in Chelsea this fall, part of plans to move its fabrication functions and up to 100 jobs to the city.

Jaytec LLC purchased the former Ann Arbor Machine Co. property at 5800 Sibley Road for $1.4 million in a deal that closed Oct. 5.

Jaytec, based in Britton, is a subsidiary of L&W Engineering of Van Buren Township. In November, the automotive supplier bought Bing Metals Groups from Detroit Mayor Dave Bing.

Chelsea officials in mid-November approved a 12-year tax abatement for Jaytec on real property worth $1,530,000 and personal property valued at $730,000.

Jaytec employment is projected at 50-100 as the plant opens, with another 100 hires possible, said John Hanifan, city manager of Chelsea.

About half of the employees were projected to be retained and about half are new positions, according to a report in the Chelsea Standard. They’ll occupy a factory that has been vacant since early this year.

“In these uncertain times it was great to see someone make a significant investment in the community,” Hanifan said.

Jaytec had been looking for a building for some time, said Jay Chavey, a commercial real estate broker at Signature Associates.

When the Sibley Road building became available as part of Ann Arbor Machine Co.’s bankruptcy, “it was what they were looking for and priced right,” Chavey said.

The original list price was $1.899 million.

Chavey, who worked the listing with Paul Hoge and the sale with Steve Gordon, said the building’s proximity to its mill in Britton was one factor in the sale.

So were the industrial features of the building.

“This building is unique because it had two big crane bays … and clear height of 26 feet,” Chavey said.

Besides the auto industry, Jaytec supplies manufacturers of trailers, tractors, lawn equipment, snow mobiles and other vehicles, according to its website.

Meanwhile, the timing for Jaytec’s opening is unclear.

“They’re doing some retrofitting of the building to get their … machinery in there,” said Hanifan.

Mark Jones, president of JAYTEC, did not return several calls from AnnArbor.com.